The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1887-02-16
The Honest Man.

I once knew an honest man; this is no
fable. | knew him. he tcds honest. He was
poor, of course. Not that all poor men are
honest; l have known some wretchedly
poor men who were dishonest and very
mean Neither would have you under
stand me to say that all rich men are dis
honest. Some, you know, have inherited
their fortunes.
This honest man lived in a small frame
cottage in an unfrequented street, and regu-
larly on the first Monday of every month
for years he settled with his landlord for
the rental due.
His name was on the tax duplicate, but
the figures that told of his personal prop
erty were small, and twice in each year he
borrowed at least half the money with
which he paid his taxes.
/ never knew him TO give a wine supper,
and the wealthiest banker in the city had
ten friends TO his one.
Very few. indeed, of the distinguished
visitors to his city were introduced to him,
and most of them left the place knowing
nothing of him-only as q unit which,
added to many other unit0, made up the
sum total which the census taker returned.
Now and then the poor itinerant minister
stopped with him, preferring his frugal
board to the paying of bill at the hotel.
He was hard of hearing, but he occupied
pew near the back part of the church,
for the ones in front were needed for the
rich members OF the congregation. The
band never serenaded him, yet he never re-
fused to help those poorer than himself,
even though the beggar be poor-a very
poor-musician.
By and by, when he was old and full of
years, he sickened. His next-door neigh
Dor brought him dainty food to tempt his
appetite, and the physician made but one
hasty call day, so he lasted several weeks.
But finally he died. The casket in which
his body was placed was a very plain one,
and the attendants at his funeral were very,
very few. Many had intended to be pres
ent at his funeral, but somehow they were
so very busy when the time came that they
could not get away; yet one week later, to
the very day, when the gilded coffin that
held q wealthy mans remains entered the
same gate, to the same burial ground, it
was followed by carriages in which rode all
those very busy men.
A few years passed away. / visited that
burial ground. / looked in among the
lofty monuments for the name of this de-
parted honest man, but found it not. /
asked the sexton if he could point me to
the grave, but he had forgotten where it
was. could only find it by looking up the
record, and had no time for that unless it
was matter of importance.
But l found it by-and-by. Here, in this
piece of hallowed ground, dedicated to the
dead of men but to the living God, l found
the grave of this departed honest man,
still in the rear, while the wealthy occu-
pied the front. No shaft or slab of marble,
chiseled in his praise, told who it was that
slept beneath the mound, upon which was
planted a dainty flower, cared for by poor
but honest hands and watered by the tears
of honest love.
All others had forgotten him but she
who knew him best, and thought him great
and good because of honesty. This, all this,
in community that talks of honest men,
CHICAGO Led1er.